Cassandra's Curse
by zynaofthenight
Summary: She's the new daughter of Hades, but there's something more to that. Long ago, back before the Trojan war, Apollo cursed the prophetess Cassandra with something very, very horrible...Rewritten.
1. Prologue

_She's the new daughter of Hades, but there's something more to that. Long ago, back before the Trojan War, Apollo cursed the prophetess Cassandra with something very, very horrible...Rewritten._

**[A/N]: **Hey all, this is a rewrite of my story, since I was randomly reading through this again and realizing—this writing kinda sucks o.O

The plot hasn't been changed…but the writing quality's (hopefully) a lot better. And perhaps, a few extra scenes. Enjoy. And leave a review while you're at it, if you can :)

So this is how the rewrite is going to go: I'm going to delete the other chapters, and rebuild this story by updating chapter by chapter.

zynaofthenight does not own PJO.

* * *

**-Cassandra's Curse-**

_By: zynaofthenight _

Prologue

* * *

_Winter Solstice 1930_

_..._

It was a cold night—a night for dark, demented screams and frozen thoughts. Flurries of snow fell in a blizzard upon the earth, covering everything in a deathly pale white. A deep silence resounded in the atmosphere, and in the distance, a small girl trudged through the steadily thickening snow in the direction of what seemed to be a camp.

She staggered over the boundary line, her black hair snapping in the harsh wind. There was a wary look in her eyes; the look of a hunted animal. Her teeth were chattering and she hugged herself with numb fingers, looking over her shoulder every once in a while.

The spirits had told her it was safe. They had told her Camp Half-Blood would be a home for her. Yet as she stood over the snowy crest of the hill, she saw no signs of living beings—just snow, snow, and _snow_.

She tried reaching for the the spirits. They had helped her before—but this time, it seemed as if all the ghosts of her past would not respond to her pleads.

"Help me," she cried, her weak voice fading quickly in the muffled air. "Someone! Help me!"

There was no response. All the campers were at Olympus, and no one was guarding the camp. The little girl stumbled down the hill, to the middle of the camp, where a smoldering campfire lay, forgotten. She desperately tried to warm herself, but with no avail. Her clothes were no asset here; she wasn't even wearing a coat.

Cold. It was too cold. She felt the wet snow on her cheek, and she attempted feebly to move it out of the way. Maybe she should go to sleep. Maybe she should just rest a bit, and when she woke again, there would be people there to help her. Maybe…

Snow continued to fall softly, covering the whole world in a deadly white. Silence pervaded.

When the campers came back from their trip to Olympus, they were shocked to see the frozen body of a little girl by the campfire, her lips blue with the last sensation she felt in the living world.

They held a funeral for her. Covering her with a delicately made shroud, they burned the body in the flames, everyone making a prayer, hoping that the innocent little girl, who met her death so young, would be allowed in Elysium. As the smoke drifted into the air, it was clear to all what image was hanging in the sky above the shroud.

The sign of Hades.

* * *

She felt the icy sensation shoot through her, and the world was dark, with nothing to feel, nothing to know. A void of black ink, bleeding out into life—shadowy figures, whispered voices, and then there was nothing. Nothing.

After an eternity of darkness, she felt a strange itching under her eyelids, forcing her to open them. Dim florescent light filtered through her pupils, and she blinked rapidly to adjust her vision to her surroundings.

She seemed to be in a waiting room filled with many, many people. An old sign hanging by the door read: _DOA Recording Studios_. _No Solicitors. No Loitering. No Living. _As she glanced about, she noticed a man sitting behind the security desk, the only one here who seemed distinguishable from shadow.

He saw her too. As she stared at him, his eyes pierced her own gaze, and he beckoned to her with one finger.

"Hello?" she asked when she had reached his desk. "I'm lost. I don't know where I am."

The man sighed through his nose, and stood up, towering over her. "Another one of those Hades godlings, eh?"

She stared at him, puzzled. "Godlings? I don't understand you, sir."

"Never mind. Come with me." The man took her hand—not without wrinkling his nose in disgust—and led her to a boat filled with other people.

"Where are we going?" she asked, fidgeting nervously as she realized something was wrong with the whole place. "Why does this place seem so scary?"

There was no response as the man took out an oar and started rowing the boat. Mist began forming on all sides, and the girl whimpered from the back of her throat as she clutched the seat she sat in. The people around her began to change, becoming transparent and ghostly.

And she—she was becoming a spirit too. She frantically ran her hands over her seat, but she just went through the wood.

"W-Where are we going?" she asked again, her bottom lip trembling as she fought to keep the fright in her at bay. "What is this place?"

"The Underworld," was her answer this time. "The River Styx—the place of hopes, dreams, and wishes that never came true."

"W-What? I-I don't understand…"

The man sighed again. "Keep quiet, and you'll know, pretty soon."

* * *

They landed on black sand by the banks of the river, and the ghostly man led her out. "Wait here," he told her. As she turned her head around, she noticed him climbing into the boat and grasping the oars.

"Wait!" she called. "Don't leave me alone!"

But the man gave no sign of hearing her, and rowed away. The girl sat down, burying her face into her hands, whimpering. It was cold, she was frightened, and she wanted to go home.

A hiss above her made her look up. An old woman was standing there, but she had scaly wings sprouting out from her back.

"W-Who are you?" the girl stammered, backing away.

"No need to be afraid," the woman rumbled. "I am Alecto. Come with me."

And with that, she grabbed the girl and flew her away.

* * *

They landed in front of a stone cold black palace, and the girl was put down—none too gently—on the ground. She opened her eyes, which had been squeezed shut, and looked around.

"Where am I?" she asked, not for the first time.

There was no answer; just a knock on the door. The gates opened to reveal a huge, dark hallway, and—

And a man in dark robes. He strode over to the girl and looked at Alecto. "You are dismissed."

The woman cackled and flew away. The man turned to the girl again, and the look on his face softened slightly to reveal a kinder expression. "My child, are you alright?"

She nodded, but shivered. "I'm a bit cold."

The man smiled. "That's alright." He snapped his fingers and she felt warm all over immediately. "Now, why don't you sleep? You need some rest."

She was suddenly too sleepy to do anything but nod, but she managed to say "Thank you," before she collapsed onto a bed that had suddenly appeared out of no where, and fell into deep slumber.

It was a few hours later when she woke up, in a different room. Heaving herself to a sitting position, she gazed around. Behind the wall to her right, she heard voices. Softly walking towards the wall, she crouched, and started to listen.

* * *

"Hades! This is ridiculous! Another child? I've let Maria di Angelo off. I've let the two kids go. But _another_?"

"Calm down, Persephone!" It was the man that told her to sleep. The little girl listened harder.

"I won't! No more children of yours!"

"She's not a new child! Maria never told me! I thought the only children she had were Nico and Bianca! Maria hid this girl from me for some reason! I never knew!"

"A third child? Are you sure she's yours? Maybe Maria had her with another man."

"I'm totally sure. She might not look like Nico or Bianca, but she is definitely mine."

"Ah…then is she Maria's? Perhaps yet _another_ woman." A hint of anger.

"No, Persephone. She has Maria's eyes. Though why she doesn't look like Nico and Bianca is a mystery to me."

The girl tried to listen, but the rest of the conversation was lost to her. She remembered now. She had a mother, didn't she? An older brother and sister. Nico and Bianca. They used to have fun…But her mother never liked her. Who was her father? Hades. The man who spoke to her. But yet…for some reason…She never met her father before. Every time he came to visit, she was hidden in a closet while Nico and Bianca rushed to meet him. She had asked her mother why.

"Because you look different. And you're a third child. I never wanted three children with Hades. Two was the limit. I'm keeping you hidden."

"But Hades is my father and you're my mother, right? Nico and Bianca _are_ my siblings, right?" the little girl had asked.

Maria looked at her with distaste. "Yes."

And it wasn't a lie. The little girl could sense that Maria was telling the truth. It was a gift that made the girl feared, for some reason. She knew if someone was lying or not. And in this case, Maria di Angelo was not lying a bit.

So she ran away. Camp Half-Blood, the spirits had told her. A safe place.

Why was she here though? Hades was the lord of the dead. That meant…and the meaning of the shadowy figures, the cold feeling, and the silent, dark air came clear to her. She was _dead_.

She started sobbing. The door opened, and Hades stepped into the room.

"There, now, child," he said. "Don't cry."

She raised her head. "I'm dead, aren't I?"

The question seemed to surprise him. "Yes, I'm afraid so, child."

He wasn't lying, and her last hope washed away.

"Do you remember your mother?"

She looked at the floor. "Yes. She never liked me. She never showed me to you, didn't she? I recognize you now. You're Hades, my father. I had two siblings, Nico and Bianca. Where are they?"

Hades looked at her, his face full of grief. "Your mother is dead. Nico and Bianca are in a safe place."

Her face betrayed no emotion. "Camp?"

"No. A different place. Perhaps, one day, you'll see them again. Come with me."

He held out his hand, and she took it, following him out the palace and to the banks of a shimmering river.

"The River Lethe," Hades said, looking sadly into the waters. "A sacred place. It cleanses your memory, all of it. That's why Nico and Bianca don't remember you anymore."

She stared at him, tears running down her face. "They…don't remember me anymore? But…but we loved each other! Nico was my big brother! H-he said he would never forget me!" She started to sob again.

Hades dried her cheeks. "It's sad," he murmured. "I know, child. But do you want to see them again someday?"

She nodded tearfully.

Hades took her hand and led her to the bank of the river. "Yours is a strong mind, child. You know the truth. The River Lethe won't wash your memory away forever. Someday, you'll remember everything again. Until then…" He gestured at the river. "Reincarnation. I hate to see my children die before they even grow up a bit. You are still young enough. Perhaps, in more than seventy years, you'll see them again."

She looked at him. "But I'll be so old! I'm already six right now so that would make me…uh…"—she screwed her face up in concentration—"really old."

He smiled down at her. "No, you won't. I'll make it that when you meet them again, you'll be only a bit younger than Nico. Nico won't age. Neither will Bianca."

She brightened. "You would? Then he'll still be my big brother! I want to go!"

Hades lifted the six-year-old up and placed her into the water.

"What's your name, daughter?"

"My name…is…" It was getting hard as she could feel the memories of her home fading away. Soon, she would forget everything.

"It's…" What was her name? And then, she remembered.

"My name's Cassandra di Angelo," she told him. "But it's too long. Everyone else calls me Calli for some reason."

He smiled. "Calli is fine. I'll see you in a while, daughter."

She tried to nod, but the river swirled over her and she didn't remember anything anymore.

* * *

Hades turned from the river, lost in memories, only to find a young girl with short hair and a peaceful expression on her face standing behind him.

"You!" he spat. "After the curse I've put on you, you _dare_ to come again?"

The Oracle of Delphi looked at him with calm, level eyes. "You should not have reincarnated her. Do you understand what you have done?"

"Stop cursing my children! You're the cause of all my misery."

She shook her head sadly. "If you had just left her as a spirit, it would have been better. But you would've reincarnated her anyways. Lord Apollo does not forgive easily."

"What does Apollo have to do with anything?"

She stared across the river. "Cassandra, the prophetess in the times of the Trojan War. She was cursed by Apollo."

"So no one believed her. What does that have to do with anything?"

"That was just a small trifle, caused by Apollo's anger. Lord Hades, you know all the dead. You must've felt Cassandra's spirit many, many times in different eras over the centuries. You felt her in your daughter."

The god was silent.

She continued. "Your daughter has already died many times. For two lives, she is reincarnated as a child of Hades. She has already died once. When she is dead again, she will be reincarnated into another life. A different person altogether. She will never feel the blessing and rest of death. She will never remain a spirit of the Underworld."

Hades clenched his fists, gritting his teeth in anger and frustration.

The Oracle's eyes went blank, her voice multiplying many times. "Apollo's real curse was that Cassandra of Troy would be doomed to die forever, never to feel the eternity of the afterlife."

She disappeared, leaving a heartbroken Lord of the Dead standing on the bank.

"No," he whispered. "What have I done?"

* * *

**[A/N]: **Mm…this was rather hurried, so if I made any mistakes, please point it out. Ta.

Review please, if you can :)

I'll rewrite chapter two…sometime…


	2. One

**[A/N]: **And now we have the second chapter of this rewrite. Switched back to first person, simply because I cannot write in third person for this. o.O

In the past A/N, it was asking for you all to review two stories, one called "Silver of the Hunting Moon." The other one was called "Time Benders." However, my dear readers, those two stories got deleted, because I was simply too lazy to continue them. Plus, no one was reviewing :(

So, I'll just bother you guys to read my "The Anonymous: Wings of Dark Victory" story instead. ^.^

* * *

**-Cassandra's Curse-**

_By: zynaofthenight _

One

* * *

_Present Day_

…

There's something strange in watching a boy melt out of the shadows right in front of you, as if the darkness had created him. And the part about him just saving you from a creepy monster thing a few seconds ago. There's something even stranger in that particular boy telling you that you're half-god.

And considering that it's kind of hard to just turn away and ignore this type of statement, I ended up staring at him in confusion. "What?"

The boy sighed impatiently. "You're a half-blood," he said slowly, enunciating each word like I was some half-deaf person. "A demigod. You know what that means? One of your parents is an Olympian god or goddess."

"I get _that_ point, thank you very much." And of course, before I could apply my mouth brake, my lovely mind just _had_ to add another statement after that. "And you can stop talking in that way. It makes you sound retar—I mean, I'm not deaf; I can hear you perfectly fine."

He raised his eyebrows. "I know you're not deaf. I was just making sure my words were heard correctly. And I think I'll just forget what you said in your"—he coughed—"statement about how I sound."

"That would be a good idea." I nodded amiably, and he rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath about how annoying this job was, how he hated this—etc. etc.

"So," I said, after a moment of rather awkward silence in which he didn't say anything—just glared at the sky—and I shuffled uncomfortably around in my shoes. "Um, what were you saying?"

"I wasn't saying anything."

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "I meant the stuff about the Greek gods."

"I was talking about demigods, before you decided to add that rather rude comment."

"And…" I prompted.

"You're one of them. One of us, I mean."

"Referring to demigods, right?"

"What else could I be referring to?"

"The rude comment."

"You're impossible." He sounded exasperated, and I couldn't really blame him.

I tilted my head to one side, amused. "Yeah, I've been told that before."

He snorted in a _I wonder why? _way.

"Okay," I continued, "So say that what you claim is true. Say that the Greek gods are real. And I can't actually find anything wrong with that, because for some random, screwed-up reason, I know you're telling the truth. How is this possible? Could I just be hallucinating? I mean—there was that monster over there…"

He shrugged. "You're definitely not hallucinating. The monster was real. However, you only get my word for that. So you're going to have to trust me."

Trust him? This random goth boy who came from nowhere was asking me to believe his preposterous statement?

"Oh," I said in a small voice. "You're telling the truth on that too. Okay, I believe you. About the hallucinating. Not sure that I trust you, though."

He shook his head. "Look. You've got to come with me to camp. You'll be safe there from monsters and all that. Well, as safe as you can get. You _have_ to trust me."

"Oh…uh…" I glanced back at the school building behind me. "You know, lunch break is about to be over. If I don't go in now, I'll get detention or something…so…you know…"

"You'd rather be eaten up by a monster?"

"No."

"Well then, you're going to have to come with me, like it or not."

I gave up. "Okay! Fine! But really, why do I get the feeling that this is a decision I'll regret?"

He ignored my last comment and looked relieved. "I was afraid I'd have to take you by force. That would be pretty bad."

"And painful."

"Yes. Painful," he acceded, and pointed towards the brick wall that loomed over the school campus. "Take my hand. Don't hesitate. Run straight at the wall."

I was perfectly fine with all the parts of his sentence except for the 'run straight at the wall' part. Somehow, that just didn't seem very pleasant. After all, I wasn't sure many people liked running into walls on purpose.

"Uh…are you okay?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow at the wall. "I mean—running into walls? I think I'll just go back to school and forget that you ever existed."

"I'm mentally fine! Just trust me!"

"Remember that we were kind of iffy on that 'trust me' part. I really think that I should just go now—"

Unfortunately, he got impatient. Grabbing my hand, he ran us towards the wall.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I screamed. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

But it was too late. The shadows swallowed me up and everything disappeared into a black void of nothing.

* * *

The boy stumbled out of the shadows, still dragging me along.

"Shadow travel," he said, yawning. "Very useful for getting to places, but takes out a lot of energy." He looked around, and smiled in a lethargic, satisfied way. "Good. We're not in China. I wasn't really sure we'd get here, but all's well."

I was too freaked out to comment on that.

He released my hand and pointed to the pine tree that stood majestically on top of a hill ahead of us. "That's the entrance to camp. Come on. Follow me."

In most cases, I would definitely not follow some random, lunatic stranger, but as much as I'd love to deny it, this boy had a sincere look in his eyes. And he was telling the truth. So therefore, I had to resign myself to following him.

Stupid truth detector embedded in my persona.

"I still don't get this," I said, as we hurried towards the tree. "I'm believing this all and stuff, but really, why hasn't anyone told me this before?"

"Who's your parent?"

He had arrived on a touchy subject. "I'm an orphan," I said frostily.

He glanced back at me. Was that sympathy in his expression? "I'm sorry. My mother and my sister are dead. That's what you get for interacting with the gods, and being their children. What about your godly parent?"

"If I just figured out I was a half-blood, how am I supposed to know?" I snapped, annoyed. "And I don't need any pity," I added, as he looked at me with more empathy.

Well, that just raised my guilt factor up a lot. The boy's face fell, and he continued walking ahead of me, but in this time, in a pointed silence.

So he was a person who sulked easily. I rolled my eyes inwardly, then jogged a bit to catch up to him. "Sorry," I apologized. "That was really harsh. It kinda slipped out. I'm just really confused and lost for the moment. I'm usually a lot nicer."

The expression in his eyes was guarded as he turned to face me again, but he nodded, and sort of smiled. "The reason why you didn't know you were a demigod before is that most people _don't_ know. Actually, some demigods don't know themselves for their whole life. Not everyone is a half-blood. Most people are mortals."

"You said that there were monsters. How can people not see the monsters?"

"There's a thing called the Mist. It's a powerful essence that literally puts mist over mortals' eyes, making them see something else. Once in a while, you get a clear-sighted mortal, like Rachel. They can see through the Mist."

"Rachel?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," he said, waving his hand absentmindedly. We were silent for another moment, before I spoke up again:

"You were talking about godly parents. So, how do you know yours?"

We had arrived at the crest of the hill. "The gods claim you on your thirteenth birthday. I found out that my father was Hades when I was ten, though, because of…"—here he paused, a sort of pained expression on his face—"…certain events."

"Hades? The god of the dead?" No wonder he was dressed in so much black.

"That's Thanatos," he corrected. "Hades is the _lord _of the dead, not _god _of the dead."

"Oh. I see." I paused, then grinned. "On our thirteenth birthdays…I'm turning thirteen tomorrow!"

For the first time since I had met him, he smiled a genuine smile. "Someone's excited. Wait here. I'll get Chiron."

"Chiron? As in _the Chiron_? As in the centaur…oh. Never mind. Yes. Okay, okay then…Um…" I realized that I didn't even know his name. "What's your name?"

The boy paused in mid-step. "My name's Nico."

"That's a…nice name. Mine is Cassandra. But call me Calli—Cassandra reminds me of some fancy name that I'd rather not have."

He nodded, and continued walking towards the camp below us.

"Wait!"

He turned around. "Yeah?"

"Nico, I'm sorry. Really." I looked at him sincerely in the eyes. "I was acting like a jerk over there, and I just want to apologize for being such a nuisance. I'm usually not like this—I think it's because of the shock or something."

"It's nothing," he assured me, his tone neutral. But the expression in his eyes were relaxed and kinder, and he nodded reassuringly once or twice before he started walking down the hill again.

"Nice meeting you, Calli."

* * *

"Well hello," said the centaur. He looked down at me kindly, but all I could do was stare wordlessly at him. "How are you feeling?"

"You're…you're white…"

That sounded so racist. I mentally slapped myself, and shook my head. "No, that came out wrong. I meant, you're a white horse. I always thought that Chiron was a golden palomino…"

He snorted. "A golden palomino? Gods, that's rather offensive. I am _not_ some pretty unicorn."

_Never said you were…but okay…_

He sighed, and muttered something like "kids these days—so impudent," and directed me to the large house behind us. "Pray be a lot more polite to Mr. D. He's known for turning people into dolphins and making them insane. I'd hate for another camper to go crazy…The last time that happened…"

"Wait. You mean, people have gone insane _before_?"

* * *

I was sitting in some random room in what they called the Big House, watching the "orientation film." When Mr. D, or Dionysus (imagine! He was actually a god!), had snapped at me to go and watch, I decided to follow his orders meekly and not ask about popcorn.

The lights dimmed. From the invisible speaker, a voice boomed: "The gods were famous throughout ancient Greece. They were worshipped as the almighty rulers, the great founders of civilization."

The film went on, talking about ancient Greece, what the gods were, which gods could have children, which couldn't, what they did, the first titan war, blah blah blah. I stared blankly at the screen, not processing the pictures. I already knew this stuff, from the lengthy Greek mythology books my History teacher forced everyone to read over vacations.

"And," the film announced, "The next part will be of…Camp Half-Blood and the second titan war! After this commercial break!"

This movie was _lame_. Still, I perked up, wanting to know more about the half-bloods here.

After a long commercial (Buy your Zeus Kazeus today! Guaranteed to make you feel electrified and ready, every day!), the film started again.

"Even though thousands of years have passed, the gods have not changed their habits. They still fall for mortal men and women. The results are half-bloods, or, the correct term, demigods. There are two places where demigods may go to obtain complete safety. The Hunters of Lady Artemis is a group only for girls. They are immortal, but they swear to never fall in love. The other option is Camp Half-Blood, the only choice for boys. Here is where heroes train to their best. Chiron and Dionysus head the camp." The screen showed a clip of a valiant, calm looking Chiron and an angry, drunk Dionysus, who was waving his fist at someone far off and cursing in Greek.

I lost focus after a while. Blame it on my ADHD.

"The second titan war was…" I was seriously beginning to feel drowsy. "The main heroes of this war are Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, Nico…"

I sat up. Nico? I didn't catch his last name, though that didn't really matter as I didn't know his last name, but the picture on the screen was definitely of him.

"Holy…uh…cheese," I muttered. "Nico is a famous _hero_?"

* * *

"Well, child," Chiron asked. "Do you understand everything now?"

I nodded absentmindedly, gazing at the cabins surrounding the camp from where I was standing next to the campfire. "It feels like…like I've been here before. Strange, isn't it? Because I've definitely have _not_ been here. Right?"

Chiron frowned. "Probably because your godly parent has visited before. Déjà vu."

I shook my head. "It's not that…It's like I've…" I trailed off, as the memory hit me.

_I'm cold. Frozen to the bone. The wind's whistling around me and trying to knock me down. I'm struggling to move through the piles of snow. _

_There. The camp. The spirits told me it would be a safe place._

"_Help me!" I call through the wind. "Someone! Help me!"_

_I'm a little six-year-old, crouching by the campfire, trying to stay warm._

_So cold…And everything goes black._

I blinked. I was still in the same place, except the season was summer, and there was no snow around, whatsoever.

"My child! Are you alright?" Chiron leaned over me, concern on his face. I found myself on the ground, my vision spotted with black spots. I must've fallen or something, which was quite embarrassing, really.

I opened my mouth to say, "I'm okay," but suddenly I couldn't speak. What Chiron had said sounded really familiar.

_We land in front of the stone cold black palace, the woman with bat wings dropping me none too gently onto the ground. I look around, staring at the frozen sculptures._

"_Where am I?" I ask. The creature does not answer; she just knocks on the door. The gates open to reveal a huge, dark hallway and a man in dark robes._

"_You are dismissed," he tells the bat woman, and she cackles and flies away. The man turns to me, and his face softens to a somewhat kindly expression. _

"_My child, are you alright?"_

My eyes opened again, and my mind went on an overdrive from the vividness of the visions. Chiron was standing there, looking _really_ concerned.

"Calli, we should discuss this in the Big House."

* * *

**[A/N]****：**Ahaha, if you haven't noticed yet, I _completely _changed Calli's personality. I think she's awesome this way, though.

Gratzi :)


	3. Two

**[A/N]: **And finally, after a long wait, I have managed to actually post another chapter! Yay!

In which there is an extremely OOC Hades, a rather OOC Nico, and nachos & cheese. Forgive the OOCness. I changed Nico's personality in this rewrite…so he's not so creepily OOC and goody-goodily annoyingly OOC. And Hades isn't that freaking creepily OOC either…hopefully. Still…*shudders*

Will appears in this chapter! I know he's not supposed to appear yet, but I couldn't resist putting him in. It brings along the plot, and since Calli's characteristic has been changed…oh…eh…you'll see.

* * *

**-****Cassandra's Curse-**

_By: zynaofthenight _

Two

* * *

It was the next morning, and I finally got to know who Rachel was.

I was in the Big House, at the meeting Chiron forced me to go to. Nico was there, with the other people mentioned in the orientation film: Annabeth, Percy, (no Thalia, as Chiron had explained to me that she was a Hunter of Artemis now) and other 'cabin counselors,' which I gathered were the leaders of each cabin at the camp. Yes, this was _totally_ making sense…not.

The redhead slouched lazily against her chair, sucking absentmindedly on a lollipop. From the glares and wistful looks directed at her by the other campers in the room, lollipops were probably usually not allowed (probably something to do with the 'sugar and ADHD equals unwanted hyperactive tendencies' part). Her messy red hair, her piercing green eyes, the blue 'Save the Oceans!' shirt she was wearing, along with her marker stained jeans—Rachel Elizabeth Dare looked nothing like someone with the title of 'the Oracle of Delphi.' Yet she emitted a sort of powerful aura, as most of the campers scurried away hurriedly if she came near.

"I won't bite."

"Huh?" I took a step back as she spoke, her voice amused. "What?"

"I won't bite," she repeated again, slowly. "You were looking at me like I was some sort of scary monster. I assure you, I'm not going to start predicting your doom anytime soon. That is,"—she tossed her now eaten lollipop away into the trash—"if you don't annoy me."

"Uh…okay then…um…" I took another step back, embarrassed that she had caught me staring at her like she was going to eat us all. "Sorry."

"That's okay," she replied absentmindedly, rummaging in the pockets of her jeans. "Aha!"

"What?"

"No, no," she said. "I wasn't talking to you. I just realized that I have another lollipop in my pocket. Anyways. See, most people are afraid of me, because I'm the Oracle. Honestly," she sighed, "what goes on in people's minds these days? I mean, considering that the past Oracle was a hippie mummy in the attic—"

"_What?_"

"You heard me. A hippie mummy in the attic. And apparently, she caused quite a bit of fear. So now people are scared of me."

"Ah…" was my intelligent response. "Okay…Well, if you'd excuse me…"

Fortunately, I was saved by Chiron standing up in the room and shouting for everyone to quiet down. As everyone sat in a chair (or, in the case of Chiron, stood near a chair), the centaur took a plate of nachos and a big glop of melted cheese, munching on the chips. "This is Calli, our new half-blood. I've called everyone here for a counselor's meeting because…well, Calli must have something special with her. She has visions."

Rachel stared at me, which was a little unnerving, coming from those stark green eyes. "She can't be a prophet, can she? She isn't completely mortal. It's not like…"

Would you people please stop talking about me like I'm not here? "They're not visions! They're memories! Except I never, never experienced them before! They're _my _memories, but they're not!" I fought the urge to slap someone and crossed my arms angrily instead. "This doesn't make any sense, does it?"

"No, it doesn't." said Annabeth wearily from where she was sitting next to Percy, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. "Calli—did I get your name right?—could you tell us, in specific detail, about your.._memories_?" She took a nacho from the plate Percy offered her, dipped it in melted cheese, and ate it.

I nodded, taking a plate of nachos for myself. "So first, I'm at the border of camp. I'm six years old; I'm freezing, and no one's in the camp. I think some spirits have told me where camp is. I walk to the campfire, and I try to warm myself. Then everything goes black. I wake up. I'm in this dark palace with moaning spirits. There's this bat woman thingy. And there's this man who tells me to go to sleep. That's all I remember."

Nico and Percy looked at each other, their faces mirror expressions of confusion…and something else, as if they knew something I didn't. Which they probably did. "Spirits?" Nico asked. "But…"

I shrugged offhandedly. "It's déjà vu. It's not supposed to make sense. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a spirit in my life…never thought of them talking to me, actually. Until now."

"Wait." Chiron's voice rang throughout the room, silencing the excited chatter that had risen amongst the campers. "I think I remember something…" His face went pale, and he shook his head. "No, no, that's not possible, is it? It can't be."

"Um…what?" I asked, looking at Annabeth for help. "Chiron—"

"More than seventy years ago," the centaur announced gravely, "there was a little girl found dead by the campfire. She was frozen from the cold. When we burned her shroud, the sign of Hades arose from the smoke—"

I was about to ask how this related to anything when all the campers in the room gasped and stared at me.

"Uh…" I said, staring back, confused. "Do campers always gasp at the words 'sign of Hades'?"

"Calli," Nico said, sounding extremely shocked himself. "Above your head." I looked up, to see a smoky black sign fading above my head. As I craned my head to get a better view, one of the campers said, "The sign of Hades—she's the daughter of Hades!"

Oh.

Chiron knelt down, somehow, since he had horse legs, his face grim. When he spoke, he sounded like he was giving a speech at a funeral, which was _really_ cheerful. "All hail…" he paused, and turned to me. "Calli, what's your last name?" I stood up and whispered it into his ear. He looked surprised, but nodded, and faced the rest of the campers again.

"All hail Cassandra di Angelo, daughter of Hades."

* * *

The silence that followed was extremely long and…silent. So…why were they staring at me with weird expressions on their faces? This wasn't part of the ritual when a half-blood got claimed, right? Weren't they all supposed to kneel down and bow to my epicness?

No?

Nico's nacho plate dropped out of his hands and clattered on the floor. He stared at me, not even bothering to acknowledge that his plate of delicious nachos had just splattered in a huge glop of melted cheese on his shoes. I had to give it to this guy; if I was in his situation, I'd be screaming in grief for my dead nachos and cheese. Also, I'd be freaking out about ruining my beautiful shoes. But no, all Nico did was stare and stutter, looking absolutely stricken, "T-that's my…l-last name!"

Jeez. Was he worried about me stealing his last name or something? Seriously.

Chiron frowned, and turned to the steaming nacho cheese heater, which I didn't realize was here until he walked over to it and threw a golden coin into the rainbow it was making with the sunlight from outside striking the mist. Figures. I guess they couldn't just go and make nachos appear from nowhere, magical as this placed seemed to be.

A shimmering, hazy image of white appeared, and Chiron shouted, "Lord Hades of the Underworld!"

Wow. Scary title. This was my dad?

"Iris Messaging," Chiron said out loud, and I realized he was talking to me. "Like the mortals' Instant Messaging, just far more efficient, I think. Hades should appear anytime soon."

"Er…thanks…" I started to mutter, but already, the image in the Iris Message (that's what it was called?) shifted into the scene of a gloomy throne room of a palace. Torches flickered eerily from the walls, casting mysterious shadows everywhere, and the whole entire place was made out of black marble. The weirdest thing was, the guards standing around the throne in the middle of the room seemed to all be…skeletons. And the funny thing was, I wasn't scared at all. It all felt…familiar.

Sitting on the throne was a man, with oily black hair, a black cloak, and a haughty expression on his face. His thin fingers were decorated with black rings, and his cloak looked like it was made out of the spirits of the condemned. When I looked closer, I found that they _were_ tortured looking, misty people. Poor guys. I wondered what they did to deserve this fate.

"Lord Hades," said Chiron respectfully, lowering his head in deference at the man on the throne. "It has been some time."

The man—or god, actually—studied Chiron with cold, dark eyes. They reminded me of a genius, or a madman—then the thought came to me that my eyes were dark and shaped like his. Without the genius/madman expression though. Now that I thought of it, we both had the same dark hair, same eyes…but the resemblance stopped there. I was definitely not tall like the lord of the Underworld, and I was pretty sure I did not look that cruel and cold. But then, I guess, one developed that expression after several millennia stuck with the dead. However, I just couldn't believe this was my father. And now…I realized that I was Nico's _sister_. We looked almost nothing alike, and I was pretty sure we weren't related.

Caught in my thoughts, I didn't hear what Hades said in response to Chiron, but when I focused again, the god was waving his right hand in an airy gesture. "I presume you want to ask me about Cassandra," he was saying. "You want some answers."

"Don't call me Cassandra. My name's Calli." The words escaped my lips the moment I thought them, which made me fell instantly stupid. And nervous, since I wasn't sure if Hades was going to blast me into bits for interrupting him and being rude. Hopefully not, because I was (supposedly) his child…right?

Hades watched me a sort of amusement on his face. "I see that you can talk now," he said. "It shows that you are not completely dumb like some of my other children." He glanced at Nico as he said this, but Nico didn't seem to notice. The boy who brought me into this world of Greek mythology and demigods was staring blankly at the Iris Message, when he finally burst out, "Dad, she has my last name! Could she be another form of…of…Bianca?" The last word was whispered falteringly, which made me wonder who Bianca was. She must have been important to Nico, because he looked absolutely stricken.

Well, at least he wasn't worried about me stealing his last name.

Hades inclined his head in a _we'll see _gesture and turned to me again. "Happy birthday, daughter."

"Um…birthday? Right! Today's my birthday! Uh…thanks? Yeah…uh…" I stammered, surprised. "Um…" And the thing was, it _was _my birthday. How did I forget?

"Lord Hades," Chiron said firmly, addressing the god, "we really need to discuss Calli here. Please. I need an explanation. First of all, is this connected to the girl who died all those decades ago at the campfire that Winter Solstice?"

Hades smiled grimly, and spread his arms out in a rather dramatic flourish. "It does."

There was a silence among the campers around me, all who I just realized were still in the same room as I was. I had been so caught up in trying to figure out who I really was that I had forgotten anyone else other than Nico, Chiron, and I was in the room.

Rachel cleared her throat, looking at Hades with an expression of impatience. "Um, Lord Hades," she said, "if you would care to explain further…" Her voice trailed off.

I glanced nervously at Chiron, biting the inside of my lip. "Does this have anything to do with me?"

"Obviously," said Hades rather icily, "or else you wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't be talking about a girl named _Cassandra_ who just turned thirteen today."

I got the feeling that he said 'Cassandra' on purpose to annoy me, so I shut up.

"So," Hades said, almost dreamily, which was really creepy, "Maria di Angelo was the most perfect woman I have ever met—other than Persephone, or course," he added hastily. "I met her almost eighty years ago, in a coffee shop." He sighed, looking really sad and forlorn all of the sudden.

Again, with the 'lord of the dead acting lovesick is really creepy' thing.

"She and I had two children, Bianca and Nico," Hades continued. So that was who Bianca was… I remembered what Nico had said about having a mother and sister who had died. That must have been Bianca and Maria. Then I realized something else. Nico was also a child of Hades…Same last name, same father, was that an indicator of something suspicious? But Hades had said _eighty _years ago. I stopped thinking and focused my attention on Hades.

"Pretty soon, Maria died because I wouldn't listen to Zeus, because of that prophecy and oath the Oracle forced me to take"—here he gave an expression of disgust—"and Bianca and Nico were brought to the Lotus Hotel to pass seventy years or so. Bianca died afterwards, in that…_quest_, a few years ago…"

So that was why Nico was so freaked out about Bianca. Things began to piece together in my mind, but, "Lord Hades—I mean, Father…Dad…uh…what does this all have to do with me?"

"A year after Maria died," Hades said, "Her _third _daughter died when she was six. A daughter she never told me of. I reincarnated her."

"Uh…wait. _What?_ You mean…you mean…_me?_"

I glanced almost involuntarily at Nico, and shuddered. He was staring at me with open suspicion in his eyes and confusion. The (somewhat) nice boy who brought me here yesterday, the boy who was apparently my blood brother on both sides…he was completely gone. Now only a simmering hostility formed between us, but I didn't really blame him. I'd be suspicious too, if someone I had just met the day before was suddenly claimed as my long lost sister from long, long, ago. Well, I didn't believe Hades myself. I doubted that I was in any relation to Nico. We didn't even look alike.

Hades turned to me. "I washed you in the River Lethe, daughter," he said, "so if you want all your memories back, find Mnemosyne."

"Mnemosyne?" I asked. "That's the titaness of memory…oh."

But already, Hades' image was fading away, and with that the Iris message disappeared, leaving the whole room in a sort of awkward silence. It went on for quite a few seconds, until a rustling sounded in the corner of the room, where a few campers were sitting, staring at the place where Hades—I mean, my dad (isn't that so weird?)—used to be.

"Aw, great," one of the campers in the corner muttered, though it was still loud enough for everyone to hear. "Another freaking child of Hades." He had light brown hair and bright blue eyes, and he looked like one of those people who were always in a cheerful mood. Well, at least, _almost_ always in a good mood. Right now, though, he was glaring at me like it was my fault for existing—I mean, what did I do to deserve that?

"Will," Chiron said, eyeing us apprehensively. "Please don't start off another argument."

"I'm not trying to start off an argument!" the boy responded indignantly. "I'm just saying—"

"—you really don't like me, do you?" I cut in, annoyed. "It's not my fault for existing, if that's what you mean. What, do you think I can go and change my DNA? How do you propose I do that?"

"Calli," Chiron said firmly, giving me a 'shut-up-now-or-I'll-use-my-epic-centaur-awesomeness-to-shut-you-up' look. "Please. Both of you, be quiet. We don't need to argue here. Nico, if you could show your sister the Hades cabin. Will, if you could come with me…I'll tell the Apollo cabin you'll be a bit late for lunch…"

So he was a son Apollo. Okay…The boy shot me another glare as he stalked towards the door of the Big House. Turning around to face me again as he placed his hand on the doorknob, he cocked his head and raised an eyebrow (which made me instantly envious, by the way. I've always wanted to be able to raise only one eyebrow at a time). "This isn't over," he promised. "Apollo and Hades never get along, and rest assured, Hades girl, don't expect any—"

A flash of blinding light filled the room, and I forgot about feeling extremely insulted at the name 'Hades girl.' As my vision slowly got back to normal again, the world spun back into focus, and I could see the Apollo boy (ha! Payback!) standing there, mouth open in surprise. "—favors from the Apollo cabin…" he finished. "…hi Dad…"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rachel widening her eyes. It was then when I realized that someone was standing in the middle of the room. Rachel moved forwards, looking confused. "Apollo?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Apollo…sun god…guardian of the Oracle of Delphi…Will's father…oh. I slowly edged away, hoping that I wouldn't be seen by the god, but he had already turned to me, scowling. It was really weird, the resemblance he had with Will. They looked like brothers: both had light hair, blue eyes, a _normally_ cheerful face, a handsome—I mean, Apollo was handsome, not Will—visage, and…both happened to be glaring at me.

The sun god crossed his arms and spoke scathingly, his voice cutting the air like a sharp knife: "You again."

Joy. Apollo and his kids must really hate me.

* * *

**[A/N]: **And we have an angry Apollo! Woot!

Haha, guest appearance from our awesome Will Solace. He's rather angry…which I guess is OOC, but who cares? His angriness is just yet another part of the plot. And see, I changed Nico from being over gushingly happy to a suspicious person. Because after all, Nico isn't very likely to be an over gushingly happy person. He's a suspicious person. *nods philosophically*

So…you all see that Mnemosyne part? Yeah? Because Calli's gonna have another quest in this story, to restore her memories! Ahaha!

Anywho.

This chapter was 3,192 words according to Word 2007. Before the rewrite, the chapter was 1,200 something…ish. Big increase in word quantity, though almost the same exact events happen. Huh.

Review please? :D


	4. Three

**[A/N]: **Wow, I'm so glad more and more people have been reading this story. I wait a bit, and I get a bunch of reviews :D This rewrite is so much different (and hopefully better!) than the original version…I'm so proud of myself ^.^ Anywho…I hope you all enjoy this chapter (which I actually managed to finish in a short period of time!). Be warned of an OOC Apollo. And arguing people. Nothing much, really. But aren't you all proud of me? actually updated soon!

* * *

**-****Cassandra's Curse-**

_By: zynaofthenight _

Three

* * *

_You again._

Funny thing was, I was pretty sure I hadn't met Apollo before. So unless he was some creepy stalker dude…oh, never mind. But just to be sure, I gave him an innocent, confused look and asked politely (with much innocence and confusion put into my words), "Excuse me, sir, but I don't think I've seen you before. Are you sure…have we met?"

"Possibly," he said, glaring at me like I was to blame for being the cause of all his problems in history. "Like, sometime before the Trojan war."

Which _totally_ made sense.

"Uh…" I said, "Lord Apollo…I don't think I was existing before the Trojan War. I mean—I don't think I was existing until the end of the twentieth century. This is the twenty-first century right now. The Trojan War was…uh…" I racked my brain for a date—"a very long time ago. Millennia, as a matter of fact. And since I'm hopefully not immortal, I don't think I could have—"

I shut up as his glare intensified. When the god spoke again, he sounded as if he was gritting his teeth in annoyance…which he probably was. "I am a _god_, Cassandra di Angelo," he said angrily. "I know that."

I resisted the urge to say "I know you're a god too, Apollo. Thank you for sharing this absolutely crucial, _fascinating_ piece of information," and instead kept quiet, waiting for him to explain further.

Finally, the god sighed and turned to the rest of the campers in the room—all of them were staring at Apollo in disbelief still—and growled, "Anyone up for story time?"

No one answered him, Will gulped visibly and scurried out of the way, and the rest of the campers and Chiron stared at Apollo in a sort of fear. I got the feeling an angry god was something in demigod language that meant _very, very bad_. And the fact that Apollo seemed to be quite angry at me…not good at all for my health?

"Everyone's heard of the prophetess Cassandra from the Trojan war?" The god spoke sharply, as if he really didn't want to be here.

I nodded slowly and carefully, hoping that it wouldn't offend him and I'd be blasted into little pieces. "You liked her, so you gave her the gift of prophecy. She rejected you, so you made it that no one would believe her."

He threw me a frosty look that felt so cold that I didn't know a sun god could be capable of making the room feel ten degrees lower in temperature. "A very biased opinion, but essentially correct. She repaid my kindness by slamming the door in my face! How rude! And then she made that all Oracles couldn't marry or like anyone!"

I was tempted to say, 'You deserved it,' but I figured it wouldn't help me live long. Not that I was going to live long, judging from the enraged expression on the god's face.

"I got angry at her," Apollo said. "I cursed her. Not with the 'no one's going to to believe you,' but I cursed her with something far worse. I made it that she would be reincarnated over and over, never to rest in peace in the afterlife!"

Somewhere close to me, Nico sucked in his breath and let it out slowly. "Ouch," he said. "That sucks."

"And you," Apollo hissed, swinging himself so that he was glaring at me. "You're her 500th reincarnation."

Whoa, whoa. What was this about reincarnations? I was pretty sure I wasn't someone else…right?

Apollo smirked cruelly. "Very horrible fate. I made it that the reincarnations of Cassandra would never live past youth, and they would all die of some horrible death."

This must've been the best birthday ever. Finding out that you died and got recarnated, and then having an angry sun god tell you that you're doomed to die some horrible death again before you grow up is quite…interesting.

And quite unfair, too. I mean, hello? It's not _my_ fault that some prophetess from…uh…a long time ago decided to reject Apollo. He _did_ deserve it. "It's been so many centuries," I told Apollo, knowing that this attempt was fruitless and I'd never get anywhere. Might as well try if I was about to blasted to horrible, painful death soon. "Couldn't you just let go of the past and take away the curse? I don't get why people who have never done anything wrong"—well, at least, not horribly evil—"pay for something someone else did millennia ago?"

"No!" he snapped. "You're her reincarnation! You remind me of her! Actually, you look exactly like her. Want to know where your gift of knowing the truth comes from? You're a half-blood, so you can't be a complete prophetess! But you know the truth! Like Cassandra!" Apollo gave one last growl and disappeared in a flash of supernova light. Everyone turned away as he became brighter and brighter—everyone except me, that is. Chiron grabbed me by the shoulders and had to turn me around.

When I finally looked around, I found everyone staring at me, again.

These people were so predictable.

I held my hands up and shrugged a bit, trying to not show the fear I felt knotting in my stomach. "I'm okay?" I said tentatively, wincing as my voice trembled. Okay, so this wasn't going to work.

Luckily, Chiron quickly came to my rescue. The centaur stood up tall, and looked about the room. "This meeting is done," he said firmly. "We'll figure this out some other day."

As everyone pushed back their chairs and walked out of the Big House, I found myself next to the really annoying son of Apollo who had been arguing with me before his dad popped up and decided to give us story time. Our eyes met for a moment, light blue staring into dark brown. I took a step back, because I was pretty sure he was going to make some stinging remark like _"Oh, lookie! You're going to die anyway, so I can just hate you for the rest of your miserable life, which will last like, one week! Yay!" _Or, you know, at least something close to gloating.

Instead, what I found in his expression was disbelief, horror, and…_pity_.

It was gone in a moment, and his face became closed and he looked away, stalking out of the door. I looked after him, not without some feeling of bemusement. Talk about mood swings. "Nice meeting you, too," I muttered under my breath.

As people continued to move out of the room, some of them patted me on the back in sympathy. Annabeth walked by, her gray eyes sad. She nodded to me once, then disappeared with Percy. Pretty soon, the only people in the room were Chiron, Nico, and me. Chiron cleared his throat and said that he would be in the rooms of the Big House, and walked away, leaving Nico and I alone.

My brother (I guess he was my brother now) looked at me with a blank expression in his eyes. Silence pervaded, and I shifted uncomfortably in my shoes. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore, and blurted out, "I didn't want this. I never wanted to be a demigod. I never wanted to be a daughter of Hades. I never wanted to be a stupid reincarnation of Cassandra of Troy. Is it just me, or does bad luck follow the children of Hades a lot?"

"The bad luck," he said abruptly, and spun around, walking towards the door. I watched him disappear outside, then sighed and ran after him.

* * *

I found Nico by the Hades cabin, staring at the flaming torches filled with green fire, burning on the walls of the cabin. Without turning around, he spoke out loud: "It's really confusing, you know. Life. I never thought I'd have another sister."

"I'd never thought I was a demigod," I countered, walking up to him. "I guess we're even, then?"

"I don't know what to feel about you," he said suddenly, after a tense silence. "Should I be happy that you're here? Because, really, all I feel is suspicion. I don't know who you are—you just appeared from nowhere into my life, and now Dad says that you're a di Angelo, that you're my sister and you share the same blood as I do. That you're my mother's daughter."

"Well, helping me with this 'curse' thing Apollo has decided to cast upon me would be appreciated," I said lightly, trying to ease up the tension around us.

"Do you have any ideas?" he asked wearily.

"Nope. Nada. Zero. Goose egg. Why?"

"Because I don't have any suggestions of my own," he said pointedly.

Right. I knew that.

A thought suddenly hit me. "Spirits," I said, a course of adrenaline rushing through me all of the sudden. "Spirits could help me…"

"What about them?" Nico was still standing in front of me, frowning, his arms crossed.

"Would Bianca know? Could your—I mean, _our_—sister know anything about this? The dead know a lot."

He grimaced, furrowing his eyebrows in a sullen expression. "I don't like talking to her ghost. Reminds of memories I'd rather forget."

I gave my iciest look, going for the guilt factor. "She's my sister too. I don't like it less than you do, summoning her spirit and seeing her again when she's dead."

"You don't know how it feels!" Suddenly, Nico had placed his face right in front of mine, and his eyes were flashing murderously. "_She's my sister too. I don't like it less than you do, summoning her spirit and seeing her again when she's dead,_" he mimicked mockingly, his angry tone of voice making me shiver slightly. "Seeing her again when she's dead? You don't even _remember_ her! And I really doubt you've ever even saw her in your life. Actually, I don't think you're a di Angelo. You're probably not even a daughter of Hades. This is just some sort of sick joke of Dad, giving me another _sister_." He spoke the last word scathingly, as if 'sister' was the worst word he could think of at the moment.

I shrunk back from him, really scared now. "I'm sorry," I mumbled, but if he had heard me, he didn't give any sign of it.

"Could your—I mean, _our_—sister know anything about this?" He said venomously, repeating the words I had just said in a furious voice. "See? You can't even seem to think Bianca is actually your sister. You can't even be part of this family. _You don't belong here!_" He injected the last sentence with so much anger that I backed away from him. He gave me one last glare and turned around, walking in the opposite direction from the Hades cabin.

"Nico…" I pleaded softly, watching him stalk angrily away. "I'm really sorry. I truly am. But please—Bianca wouldn't have wanted you to act this way—" I faltered as he swung back around, pure fury blazing on his face.

His voice was flat and emotionless when he spoke again, though his expression said it all. "_Sorry_ doesn't count. And _never_ speak of Bianca like that again. She doesn't control everything in my life. I won't summon her, and that's that. Now _go_, Calli, before I get really angry and start summoning the dead to kill you."

He ended with a trace of bitter humor in his voice and walked away, leaving me standing there in front of the Hades cabin, staring at him, flabbergasted.

* * *

**[A/N]: **Bit of a shorter chapter, but I thought this was a good ending before events accelerate in the next chapter. Lotsa ppl are angry at Calli nao…flabbergasted is such a cool word!

Check out my new story, _unsighted_, please! It's my story of the former Oracle of Delphi, and it's original cuz no one ever writes about the former Oracle of Delphi! :D The title's not capitalized on purpose, in case you were going 'OMG THE FIRST LETTER OF THE TITLE ISN'T CAPITALIZED!" Chill, people. Calm down…

Check it out please? And review it? All you have to do is click on the button thingie at the left corner of the very top of this page that says 'zynaofthenight.' This will take you to my profile. Scroll down the profile to where it says 'My Stories.' Click on the story that's titled 'unsighted.' This will take you to a page with my story, 'unsighted' on it. Read the story, and click the review button at the end of the page. Write a lovely review in the box that pops up. Click 'submit review,' or whatever the button says.

Voila! All done!


	5. Four

**[A/N]: **Yay! More and more people are reviewing this! *feels loved* And so without further introduction, I present you the next chapter…which I have finally decided to type up because I stopped being lazy! :D Enjoy…or run away screaming "NOMNOMNOM THE CHEESE IS HAUNTING ME!" Whichever one you choose to do…

Has anyone checked out my _unsighted _story yet? :D

* * *

**-Cassandra's Curse-**

_By: zynaofthenight _

Four

* * *

It was after the campfire when I slipped into the Hades cabin. The whole entire evening, Nico had been avoiding me, hiding away in the shadows. No one else really paid me much attention either. Every once in a while, someone would give me a look of pity, but honestly, it seemed like no one actually cared. Not that it mattered; I was pretty sure I didn't want any more attention. I guess half-bloods were used to people being cursed/about to die, etc., etc. all the time.

The Apollo boy—Will—was leading the sing-along, which I think I will _never_ go to again. It was absolutely humiliating, singing silly little kid songs, but no one seemed to mind. Probably because everyone wanted to be a little kid once and not worry about saving the world from some sort of evil or other.

Forget about it. I did _not_ notice Will was leading the sing-along on purpose. I _was not_ looking for him. It was a coincidence, okay? I mean, he was standing there…why would I be looking for an idiotic jerk like him?

Why am I even having an argument with myself over this?

Never mind.

Where was I?—oh, right. In the Hades cabin. Nico was buried under about five layers of quilts and blankets (uh…Nico…it's cold outside, yes, but not _that_ cold), and completely knocked out, so I just threw myself into an empty bunk far away from him and closed my eyes.

And guess what? I fell asleep and had a dream.

I hate being so predictable.

* * *

_Wind howls across the scene, and my cheeks burn with a stinging cold. The world unfolds below me, and I realize I'm standing in a tower, far above the ground. Below me, walking hand in hand through a garden, are a couple. As I peer closer, one of them looks exactly like Will Solace__—__no, stop thinking about him; it's Apollo. _

"_Cassie, dearest," says Apollo tenderly to the woman beside him. His face is full of kindness and caring, far different from when he was scowling at me. His voice is soft, gentle, loving. "Please," he pleads._

_Talk about multiple personality disorder._

_The woman next to him shakes her head sadly, and I step back in shock. She looks exactly like me…except for her dark blue eyes, reflecting something deep and mysterious from the ancient past. And it clicks in me__—__this is Cassandra of Troy, prophetess of Apollo. The Oracle._

"_Look, Apollo," she says, her voice confused but without hesitation. "I don't want to leave you. But we're not meant to be together. Our fates don't intertwine. The Oracle tells me that my path is different than yours. I can't be with you anymore. I'm so sorry, but…but…"_

_Apollo frowns, his eyes narrowing. "I won't leave you!"_

"_You must."_

"_No!"_

_The girl sighs, and shakes her head again, her dark hair whipping in the breeze. "Apollo, this is for your own good. I must do this." She takes her hand away from his and turns away. _

"_You can't," he protests stubbornly. "I refuse you to do this. I'll _command_ you if I have to."_

"_I won't listen to you, then!" she blazes, turning around again, ferociously. "It's for your own good," she repeats, softly now. "I don't want to hurt you even more." She takes a deep breath, then throws her hands up to the heavens. "Hear me, Zeus, king of the gods. From now on, every Oracle of Delphi has to be single. Forever. We cannot afford to be with Apollo. It must be forbidden. I swear…I swear on the River Styx!"_

_Thunder rumbles, sealing her words. Apollo's gaze darkens, and he scowls. "Fine," he growls, his voice rumbling dangerously. Cassandra shrinks from him, her expression suddenly afraid. "Fine, I'll leave you now," he continues hatefully. "But I swear on the River Styx that from this day on, no one will ever believe your words of prophecy. Ever!"_

_He turns to go, but Cassandra grabs his sleeve. "No!" she cries. "If you do that my city will be destroyed!"_

_The moment she speaks, I know that she should have not spoken._

_Apollo turns to her, his gaze icy. "That's too bad for you. If you don't love me, then it's your own fault." He begins to glow brightly, and Cassandra averts her eyes, tears running in tracks down her cheeks. As she covers her face with her hands, Apollo speaks again, his voice wrathful: "I, Apollo, decrees that from this day on, Cassandra of Troy shall never feel the rest of eternity, to always reincarnate and die at a young age of a horrible death!"_

"_NO!" Cassandra screams. There is a flash of light, and she collapses to the ground, sobbing._

_Apollo's voice comes back, tinged with a bit of remorse. "I give you one chance, Cassie. Prove to me with the Golden Rose that our fates aren't supposed to be together, and I'll release you from the curse. Until then__—__"_

_The bright light obliterates everything in my vision. _

* * *

"The Golden Rose!"

I sat up in bed, sweating from the intensity of my dream. Sunlight streamed through the chinks of the heavy black windows of the Hades cabin, and I rubbed my eyes tiredly. One glance at the clock beside my bed—yep. It was noon. I must have been really tired, to sleep this long.

Nico's bed was empty, and from the lack of noise outside, I assumed that everyone was eating lunch. How nice, to have me miss breakfast _and _lunch.

_The Golden Rose_. A voice in the back of my head tugged persistently, and I sighed. There really was no other choice, so after dressing myself, I ran out of the cabin, towards the center of the camp, searching for Chiron.

* * *

"The Golden Rose," Chiron mused, tapping his fingers on the table. "It is a very rare object."

_Thank you, Captain Obvious. Anything else in plain sight that you need to tell us?_

"Chiron, just _what is it_?" I asked, impatiently, crossing my arms. Nico and I were in the Big House with Chiron, I having explained my dream to both of them. Now Chiron looked very mystified, while Nico just stood there, shooting me strange looks and tapping his foot on the ground. These people really needed to move a lot, I noticed. Something to do with the ADHD?

The centaur stared off into space. "A precious object. One that will convince Apollo to release his curse on Cassandra."

Yeah, we've heard _that _already.

"And…" I prompted, feeling yet another bond of my toleration limit snap away.

"The Golden Rose tells the true fate of everything. However, you must go to the Three Fates and take on their challenges before they deem you worthy of using the Rose. Do you partake this quest?"

I blinked. "Um…sure…wait. The _Fates? _Okay, that's positively creepy. Um…where are the Fates?"

"Florida."

"_Florida? _This just gets weirder and weirder. Okay, so I go to Florida—"

"Wait," Nico interrupted. "Florida…that's where Mnemosyne resides, right?"

"Mnemosyne?" I asked. "Why Mnemosyne—oh." My eyes widened, and I stared back at him. "My memories. If…if I got my memories back—"

I fully expected Chiron to jump up and exclaim 'jolly good!' Unfortunately, he didn't, partly because he didn't seem like the type person—centaur, excuse me—who would do that, partly because no matter how old-fashioned Chiron was, no one said 'jolly good!' anymore. He did nod in assent, though.

"Exactly what I was thinking, Calli. Now, for a quest, you need a third person, since we already have you and Nico."

I did not know Nico was coming along…but okay. Nico looked like he was going to protest, but then he shrugged, and asked, "Where's Rachel? Shouldn't we have a prophecy?"

Chiron cleared his throat, and smiled nicely at me. "No. I have already asked Rachel as Calli was finding Nico to come here. So. I have chosen a quest member for you. I know he will help your quest a lot. You'll be glad you have him along."

Why did I get the feeling Chiron was saying that because we wouldn't like the third member of our quest?

And of course: "How about we have Will Solace come along with you two?"

* * *

If he had a tad bit of pity for me before, or even felt _sorry_ for my rather inconvenient state of existence, it was definitely gone now. Will stared at Chiron in disbelief and promptly gagged. "What? Are you kidding me?"

Chiron patted the boy's shoulder in a sort of fatherly gesture. "Will, you need to go with Nico and Calli. Apollo is your father. Perhaps you can make some sense of him…"

The healer rolled his eyes. "Riiight. Chiron, I can't go with them! Their auras would just, like, I don't know, kill me! Do you know what it's like to be a cheerful son of Apollo stuck with two kids that smell like depressing stuff? Especially that Hades girl." He glared at me, so I glared back. Of course, he was also acting real cheerful in the current solution.

"The feeling's mutual, Solace," I said cheerfully. "Why don't we start singing 'I hate you, you hate me, we're all a sad, sad family…'"

"Shut up, di Angelo."

"Nope." I stared at him defiantly, grinning broadly. "I'm going to be as annoying as I want to, _Apollo boy, _and you can't stop me at all. I'm going to call out all the dead people and make them haunt you for the rest of your life. I will have the spirits and shades of the dead come after you and eat out your brains with their amazing dead zombie powers. They will suck the—"

"_Calli, that is enough_." Chiron scowled at me before I could progress further in my gory descriptions of what exactly I thought the son of Apollo deserved. "If you're going to be on a quest with him, you two better be nice to each other and stop bickering like a married couple."

Both of us stared at him in horror. "_Married couple?_"

A second of extremely awkward silence passed, and Will and I spoke at the same time. "What are you talking about?" was Will's furious response, while I gaped and said reasonably, "but Chiron, married couples don't bicker about brain-sucking zombies."

Another second of extremely awkward silence, in which Nico looked like he was trying not to smirk at us all, and miserably failing; Chiron was smiling pleasantly at us; and the two of us were glaring at the centaur.

Funny how enemies unite together under hate towards the same opponent.

"Anyway," said Chiron, still pleasantly, after yet another few seconds of awkward silence. "Please, Will. Please. You might be able to convince your father and all that. I think you should come on this quest."

"Why should I help her?" Will asked, apparently recovered from his indignation. "The trouble is…" he continued, staring at his feet, "is that I've only met my dad once or twice in my life."

I snorted. "At least you didn't meet your dad in the Underworld, like I did. When I was _dead_."

He winced. "Could you not talk about that in my presence? It corrupts my happy existence." He sighed. "I'll probably be forced to go anyways, so, let's start." He didn't sound too enthusiastic, signified by the glare (how many glares has he given me so far?) he gave me.

"Right," I said, returning the glare with an equally scathing look. "Um, let's go find this Golden Rose and convince Apollo not to erase me from existence and kill me off and all that. This'll be fun!"

Nico shook his head grudgingly, amused. "Way to keep up the positive factor."

* * *

**[A/N]: **And so the next few chapters are totally new and not part of the original version, because I have added the new quest to Mnemosyne's place :)

The Golden Rose is something that I totally made up, but if you _really_ need an explanation, think of the rose that King Midas touched and turned into gold. Yeah.

Review please? Also, I've got a poll on my profile…does anyone want to vote? :D


	6. Five

**[A/N]: **Yay! Next chapter! Which I took FOREVER in writing…heh.

* * *

**-Cassandra's Curse-**

_By: zynaofthenight_

Five

* * *

"So, how's the sword?"

I gingerly held the Celestial Bronze blade in front of me, using both of hands in a feeble attempt to not collapse under the weight. "Um…too heavy?"

Nico sighed, looking annoyed. "Calli, can't you just find a sword that fits you already? I mean, you can't even _use_ one. What's the whole point of finding you one?" He crossed his arms and stared gloomily off into the distance.

"Chiron said so," I retorted, feeling a bit stupid resorting to the almighty wisdom of the great centaur. His epicness should not be used in such trivial arguments as this—of course not!

That was in complete sarcasm, if no one noticed.

Nico shrugged. "Figure out something quick. I want to get this stupid quest over."

_Stupid_ quest? This was about my freaking life! I hissed furiously under my breath, but turned away to find another sword. Oh, one day, I was going to get revenge on him. I was going to call all my brain-sucking zombie minions and—crap. I didn't know how to call out my zombie minions. And I was pretty sure the only person to learn from was Nico.

I was still sorting through the weapons in the armory when my arm bumped something. Sitting on the table, right next to me, was a black dagger with a note attached to it. I took the dagger and read the note:

_Dear Calli, this is a dagger made of Stygian Iron, only to be used by my children. Use this wisely._

The note was signed 'You loving father, Hades.' Seriously. I thought Hades was the Lord of the Dead, god of the Underworld, a creepy, depressed, kingly guy who didn't sign his notes with "Your loving father…"

Never mind. Despite its weirdness, the dagger was rather…convenient. Were half-bloods' lives this easy? It didn't matter now; all I was worried about was if Hades had taken his medicine this morning…I did _not_ know gods, especially gods associated with a lot of dead people, could be this cheesy. Now I knew…though I wished I didn't.

"Found something yet?" Nico drawled from where he was sitting a few feet away from me. "I really don't have all day, you know. Hurry up."

I raised the dagger and showed it to him. "Does this work?"

"Lemme see." Nico almost tripped over his feet as he stood up quickly. "Where the Hades did you get that?"

I started cracking up. "Hades, haha, that's funny…it's funny, oh, haha…I got it from Hades, and you say 'where the Hades!' Ahaha, that's so hilarious…"

Nico looked at me like I had lost my mind, which I probably did. "Okay then…well…um…"—he looked around nervously, possibly because he was making sure he wasn't in an insane asylum—"Let's, uh, find Solace, and, uh, get started on the quest. Yeah?"

I followed him outside, still laughing with a slight maniacal tone. I really must warn other people: _Caution. Demigods easily succumb to insanity._

* * *

I was still chortling as we met Will at Thalia's tree, armed with backpacks filled with provisions, money, and drachmas. Will was tapping his foot impatiently as Nico and I walked up the hill. The son of Apollo had a bow and quiver strapped to his back, though the sight of him was rather ruined by the huge scowl on his face.

"And so the snails have finally joined," he said as I staggered, laughing, onto the top of the hill. "Nice of you two to join me now." He gave me a strange look, then turned to Nico. "What's wrong with your sister, di Angelo?"

"Dunno." Nico shrugged, though his eyebrows were raised as he watched me.

Will smiled cheerfully at me, his scowl vanishing. "Hi Calli," he said. "Did you know that every time you laugh, your face looks like a mutated cabbage?"

That shut me up. I glared resentfully at him, all traces of any desire to laugh gone now. "Cabbage-face," I muttered under my breath. "Ooooh, he is _so_ going to regret that…"

"Are you ready?" Nico shouted impatiently, right into my left ear. I jumped, then glowered at both of the boys standing in front of me. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

Nico grabbed my hand, then touched Will's gingerly, a look of disgust on his face. "Close your eyes," he instructed. "I'm going to shadow travel to Florida. Don't let go."

Shadow travel? Again? I wasn't really eager to go through the void of darkness…but it was already too late.

* * *

The North Pole is an absolutely lovely place to live in…if you were a popsicle. Unfortunately, since none of us were popsicles (though considering the state we were in, we were going to be popsicles pretty soon), the North Pole was not a lovely place to even _exist _in.

"N-Nico," I chattered, hugging myself in the subzero air. "I-I th-thought tha-that w-we were g-going t-to Flo-Florida!"

"I-I th-though s-so t-too," Will agreed, not glaring at me, for once. I could just imagine, in my mind, _Trio of Half-Bloods Killed by Turning into Popsicles_ written boldly on whatever newspapers demigods read. Not the best way to die, in my opinion. Just so you know.

Nico frowned, and shrugged, seemingly unaffected by the cold. "Huh. That's funny. I thought we were in China." He looked around, and blew into the air. "It's really cold here, though."

"_N-Nico!_"

Yet again, a common enemy unites opposites together. Nico started, then stared at us, like he had never seen people before. "Right," I could hear him mutter. "Cold kills people. I should probably shadow travel everyone to Florida, even though the North Pole is such a lovely place."

I was about to shout at him to hurry up before I actually died, when he grabbed my hand and everything disappeared into a void of darkness again. Somehow, it managed to feel even colder than the North Pole.

* * *

I blinked as the bright sunlight washed over me in a soothing and warm way. For a second, I couldn't see anything, then my vision slowly began appearing again in spots. I shook my head and blinked some more. The Florida sun was blinding, and immediately began to feel rather oppressed in the heat.

Beside me, Nico raised his hand to create a shade for his eyes. "The sun is bright," he remarked profoundly. "Very bright." He proceeded to nod philosophically, smiling happily.

_Dude, what is wrong with him?_

Nico continued smiling brightly in a very creepy way. "I like the sun. The sun is warm. The sun is—_ow!_"

He rubbed the spot where Will Solace had punched him in the arm and glared at the son of Apollo in annoyance. "What was that for?"

_Caution. Demigods easily succumb to insanity. Really._

Will was shaking his head at Nico in exasperation. "You're really weird, di Angelo, did you know that?"

"Huh," Nico shot back, "and you're the one talking. Actually, it seems to me as if you're weirder than Calli here. And you call _me_ weird?"

"Yeah—" I started to say, then frowned. "Wait. Was that an insult directed at me?"

Both of them fell silent, avoiding my stare.

Well then.

"Um," said Will brightly, ignoring the death glare I was aiming at him, "let's go and find Mnemosyne!"

Immediately, Nico nodded in agreement. "Yeah, uh, let's!"

I looked at them, then said slowly, "You guys are really weird, did you know that?"

Nico's smile grew, and he grinned so widely that I considered calling an insane asylum. "That's because we're not Nico and Will," he cackled. "We're not weird at all. Oh, no, because the both of us are POKÉMON!" The last word was shouted rather loudly by both Nico and Will in unison. They both stared at me for a few seconds, then collapsed laughing, leaving a very confused me standing there, wondering if they had taken their medication this morning.

Boys are _so_ weird.

After a few minutes, I frowned, then walked away, leaving the two still laughing manically. I figured I'd go and explore some place while they were wasting time, so I slipped behind an alleyway to look around. As I passed by doors and trash cans, I began to hear this pattering sound, instantly sending me on alert. I was pretty sure something was following me, so I stilled my breathing and tried to blend in with the shadows, though, considering that the sun was blazing hot overhead, there weren't many shadows to blend in with.

_Patter, patter, patter. _I drew my dagger, knowing full well that I would probably stab myself first in trying to defend myself. Somehow, the thought of that didn't really help comfort me.

Closer, closer, came the sound, until I was pretty sure something was breathing right next to me. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that whatever attacked me would run at the tip of my dagger before it tried to eat me.

Then I got the vision.

_I'm dancing across the fields, a girl no more than four years old, laughing in joy as someone is chasing me. That someone is Nico. And behind him, is another girl. She looks like Nico, and with a jolt, I realize that this could only be Bianca, the dead sister. Watching us all is a beautiful woman__—__their, no, _our_, mother. _

"_Don't go too far," shouts Maria di Angelo. "Calli, what are you doing?"_

_She looks at me, annoyed, as if I was the cause of all her troubles. But when she turns back to Nico and Bianca, her expression is loving and kind. "Nico, Bianca, stop chasing your sister around. It's time to come back."_

_I don't want to go back. I stay in the field and gaze at the flowers, especially the golden rose that grows in front of me__—__wait. The golden rose?_

_But the scene has changed. _

_It's snowing now, and I'm freezing. Flickering shadows surround me, whispering in my ears. "To Camp Half-Blood," they whisper incessantly. "That's the safe place. Run, run away. Away from your family. Come to Camp Half-Blood."_

_I stumble, and fall into the snow. The spirits become even more urging now. "Camp Half-Blood," they scream. "Camp Half-Blood. CAMP HALF-BLOOD."_

"_Go away," I shout, my small voice vanishing quickly in the great emptiness before me. Before the world becomes completely black, I see a golden glow. The golden glow of a rose._

I understood now. The rose, the visions, it all added up. I was close to where Mnemosyne was. I could get my memories back soon. I could go on, find the Golden Rose, and save myself. But first…I had to find my way back and get those two idiotic boys to come.

Speaking of getting my way back…I looked around, confused. I had no idea where I was. Suddenly, to my right, a pattering sound appeared, and I spin around, my heart racing.

There was nothing. At least, not until I felt something grab my head and throw me to the ground.

* * *

Will got up from where he had spent the last few minutes laughing on the floor, and glanced at Nico. The son of Hades was standing up, looking confused and slightly worried. "Where's Calli? She's not here."

"I thought she'd stay here," Will mused. "Guess not. I think we succeeded in making her feel totally weirded out."

"That's great," Nico mumbled, "but where is she?"

"I thought you didn't even like her?"

"How am I going to explain to Chiron that I got her killed off?"

"Ah. Good point."

They stared at each other for a second before Nico nodded. "We should search for her."

Will opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a long, drawn-out scream in the distance. "You know," he said finally, "I don't think we need to figure out where she is anymore."

The two of them set off running towards the direction of the scream.

**

* * *

**

[A/N]:

Reviews make me happy, and inspire me to update. Review please :D 


	7. Six

**[A/N]: **I am now officially a very bad person. I have not updated in…uh…a really long time. You are all allowed to kill me now. Heh.

So, for those of you who have not read this in forever, and are too lazy to go back and reread (don't worry, I forgot what was happening in the story myself): Calli was knocked out by something, and Will and Nico are looking for her. The ever so lovely place they are in is Florida, and they are searching for Mnemosyne.

Flashbacks in this chapter, if you don't mind. :D

* * *

**-Cassandra's Curse-**

_By: zynaofthenight _

Six

* * *

Green.

It's a very nice color, really. Green inspires nature within oneself. It conveys the soft whispering of tree leaves in the summer, the freshly mowed grass on someone's lawn (though, unfortunately, if one has allergies, that may not necessarily be a good thing), and the everlasting, beautiful world.

Green also conveys that fact that if I was currently mumbling about it, and coming up with random thoughts, I was probably insane. No. Not probably. I was insane.

My head was pounding like crazy, and I couldn't see. That could have been due to the fact that my eyes were closed, but still—I couldn't see. I also seemed to be lying on a really cold and hard ground, which was most definitely _not_ comfortable at all.

I opened my eyes and sat up.

As I looked upon the glorious and majestic palace I seemed to be sitting in, the only thing I could think of to say was: "Um, this place looks like that Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz."

My entire surroundings were green, hence the happy green thoughts I had been thinking of. But what kept my attention the most was a richly dressed woman sitting in front of me. However, as I focused on her, she seemed to be only partly solid, forever shifting.

I blinked. "Uh, hi."

_Smooth words, Calli. Smooth words. How much more stupid can you get?_

The woman smiled back. "Hello, my child."

We sat there in awkward silence—at least, it was awkward for me. The woman just hummed softly, a happy smile on her ever shifting face, which I wasn't exactly sure how it was possible. After a while, I cleared my throat. "Where am I?"

The woman laughed, but it sounded hazy to my ears. "Where are you? My dear, you are at the palace of Mnemosyne."

Mnemosyne. Of course. I had found her. Or, actually, she had found me.

My next question came out, somehow making me sound more stupid than I did already (which was pretty hard): "Why is this place green?" Hey, at least it was a somewhat reasonable question.

Mnemosyne laughed again. "I find green a soothing color."

I looked around at the bright greenness of the place and winced. "Overkill, much?" I muttered under my breath. If Mnemosyne had heard, she chose to ignore it. "So," I said louder, smiling tentatively, "uh, Mnemosyne, I was looking for you, actually. Uh, I was wondering, um, could you give me my memory back?"

I grimaced at how stupid I sounded. _Seriously, Calli, by the end of this, it's going to be very hard to find someone as stupid as you in this world._

The lady stood up, and I swore, the smile on her face seemed to increase. "Everything requires a price, Calli," she soothed, her voice becoming melodious all of the sudden.

I found myself nodding. "Sure."

_What are you doing? Wake up, Calli! Stop nodding!_

"You would like to regain your memories, don't you?" the woman continued, her voice ever so calm and soothing. I nodded again, and she smiled even more brightly, if possible. "Would you be willing to discuss this with your friends?"

Something was wrong. I frowned—there was something I was forgetting. "What friends?"

She waved her hands, and two very nice looking boys appeared. "These friends, Calli dear. Of course, you don't know them, but that's alright. If I give you your memory back, will you let me take the memories of your friends?"

I blinked. "Uh…"

One of the very nice looking boys—he had brown hair and blue eyes—sprang forward. "Calli, don't!" he cried.

I stared at him blankly. "Do I know you?"

He cursed under his breath and turned to the other boy. "Gods, I hate quests. What are we going to do?"

Mnemosyne cleared her throat and looked at the boys pointedly. "If you don't want your memories taken, I can always give you another choice. Wouldn't you like that?"

The two boys looked at her, confused. Mnemosyne walked over to me, and turned to the boys. "If Calli wants her memory back, I ask that you two share it with her. Gaining back what the River Lethe has taken is not an easy task. If Hades had not meddled with the memory system, there would be no way to gain back Calli's memory."

One of the boys—unfortunately, not the nice looking one with brown hair—gave Mnemosyne a confused glance. "But…that's not really a harsh price, is it?"

Mnemosyne's face grew serious, and shadows seemed to curl about her. "Memories are dangerous things, Nico di Angelo. You should always remember that. Perhaps watching Calli's memories may not harm you, but when one watches another's memories, it will affect you greatly."

_Di Angelo._ Where had I heard that before? But it didn't matter. Mnemosyne passed her hand in front of my face, and I blacked out.

* * *

"_He loves me, he loves me not…" A woman stands before me, though her back is facing me. The petals on the flower in her hands are half torn off, as the woman continues plucking individual petals off. "He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me…"_

_She stops. The petals on the flowers are all gone now. She turns around in relief, and apparently not noticing me, walks away. I follow her, watching her meet with a tall, handsome man._

"_Maria," the man says, embracing her tenderly. The woman smiles, and the two of them walk away. I turn to go, when I hear a rustling in the grass. Three young children pop out, two girls and one boy. The younger girl looks after the couple with confusion. _

"_Hades doesn't seem like a bad person," she tells the two others. "Why does Mama say he'll hate me?"_

_The boy takes her hand and stares after the woman and the man. "Everything will be okay, Calli," he says, not directly answering her question._

_The scene dissolves, to be placed by another._

"_Cassandra di Angelo!"_

_The same woman is back, but she is scolding now, directing her anger at the same little girl in the earlier scene. "What do you have to say for yourself?"_

_The girl looks confused. "Mama, I didn't do anything."_

"_Don't call me Mama!" the woman blazes. "I hate you! I wish you were never born. Do you know what you've done?"_

_The girl backs away, tears running down her face. "I__—__" she starts, but then turns away, and runs off._

_The scene dissolves again. The girl makes her way through a snowy blizzard, and a connection runs through my mind. I've been through this before. I should remember._

_A scene of the Underworld flashes through my mind. Then, my new life. Memories fills my mind. A messy room filled with papers fluttering everywhere passes through. The boy with dark hair I had seen in Mnemosyne's palace looks at me. "I'm your brother," he whispers. The very nice looking boy with brown hair stares back at me. His name is Will Solace, son of Apollo._

_I am Cassandra di Angelo. Reincarnation of Cassandra of Troy. I am the daughter of Hades, and this is my quest to break Apollo's curse with the Golden Rose._

_I rise above the memories._

* * *

Yet again, I was stuck in the warmth of the blazing sun.

I blinked, and all at once, an overload of sense rushed through me, and I gasped, feeling nauseated and dizzy. Beside me, Nico and Will were standing up, surveying their surroundings.

_Nico. Will. Mnemosyne. My memories._

I blinked again. "Where are we?"

For we were outside, and there was no sign of Mnemosyne's palace, or anything vaguely green, for the matter, except the trees that swayed in the soft breeze.

"Figures," Nico said, and I sensed a trace of bitter sarcasm in his voice. "Trust the gods to vanish like memories." He turned to look at me, and I saw a new light in his eyes. It wasn't brotherly love, friendliness, or anything, but it was…respect.

He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Calli, for being the jerk I was. I guess you're really my sister. I…I apologize. Maybe you'll think better of me now?" He half-smiled.

I nodded. "Apology accepted, although I guess I have to apologize too. Sorry for being…uh, annoying, I guess."

We stood there, smiling at each other in forgiveness—until Will coughed loudly. "I'm sorry to break up this lovely family make up," he said clearly, "but we have a quest. Though I do agree with Calli when she says that she was being annoying."

I gave him the full force of my death glare. "_Y-you!_" I stuttered. "You _Apollo boy_." I said the words 'Apollo boy' as if they were the worst insults I could think of. "I can't believe I ever thought you were nice looking!"

Immediately, I wished I had shut my mouth and kept my thoughts to myself. Will stared at me, amused, while Nico snickered. My face burned red, and I turned away from them. "Forget that," I said, wishing I wasn't so easily embarrassed. "Let's go looking for the Fates."

Will pointed up, and I was glad for the distraction. "Looks like Mnemosyne decided to help us."

I followed his gaze. In front of us was a swirling, transparent vortex, having seemingly appeared from thin air.

"So," I told Will. "Ladies first."

We stared at each other, until he realized what I meant. "I am _not _a lady."

"I'm sorry," I told him sweetly, "But I seem to be more manly than you. So go." I gave him a little push towards the vortex. He glared at me, then disappeared, leaving Nico and I alone.

Nico stared at the gateway. "So…"

"At the count of three?"

He nodded. "One, two, three—"

We jumped into the vortex…and into open air.

* * *

"I hate quests," Will yelled as we plummeted to our deaths. "Somehow, we always end up dying in some way or the other."

I was going to counter with a sharp retort, except, well, the dying thing. I contented myself with a glare, then continued screaming as my death became quite inevitable. Closing my eyes, I waited for the worst. The ground came rushing up to meet me.

And there was silence.

I opened my eyes tentatively. Either I was dead, or some miracle happened and I hadn't died. Around me, Nico and Will rose, apparently unscathed.

So I was alive.

However, in the next moment, a looming figure rose in my vision. My vision started fading away. I vaguely felt myself falling, and Will catching me. Normally, I would have sprung up, yelling something about cooties, but I couldn't move. Embarrassingly enough, I had decided to totally _not _make a fool of myself and appear weak—

No, I just _had _to faint.

* * *

**[A/N]: **And finally, the next chapter in this lovely story is finally updated after months and months of a lazy author ignoring her strive for fanfiction. Review please? Maybe I'll be not lazy enough to write another chapter sometime…in the next, uh, few billion years. Yeah.

Anywho, it's summer here, so I hope you're all having a lovely summer vacation. And since I've decided to travel the path of nostalgia, I've just looked at the date and realized that it's more than a year since I joined fanfiction. Wow. ._.

Oh, yeah! By the way, my story _Epsilon_ was nominated for the Verita Award for best AU. Go to www dot fanmortals dot webs dot com for more info. Vote for me :D


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